On August 4th, both boys started school.

For the weeks leading up to that golden day, I fought my own battle with munchautism by proxy whereby I fabricated autism challenges that did not exist so that I could have something to do with myself. For 9 years I’ve smother-mothered Brady (and Max for 6).

Boston news: Under an armed policeman’s gaze, the gorilla prowled along Seaver Street last night. It took at least four tranquilizer darts to subdue the ape.

Ever since Brady started school, I’ve been right by his side shoved somewhere in the building like an escaped zoo animal roaming the suburbs that they can’t find a powerful enough barbiturate to knock out. Clearly they must need me?

Things that I considered doing

Things that I actually did leading up to August 4th.

10. Bought an iPhone for Brady on the sly “in case he had a meltdown”. It sits in his bag untouched except on rare occasions when he pulls it out to text me or his grandparents something vital like AAAAAA akjdfld;ajdka;l or takes a picture of his open mouth 9,000 times. That’s a good use of our money. He’s mature enough for a phone.9. Drafted dozens of letters to Brady’s poor teacher who was http://www.busyenough.com setting up her classroom in a brand new building in sweltering heat. Sent a two or three or five or seven to her. Hi. Yes. I’m sorry.

8. Texted Brady’s teacher about modified days, skipping music class, skipping sibling care, getting picked up early and personally by me. Thought about sitting in the parking lot eating Dairy Queen and playing on my phone. Opted to ask my friend to drop her son off during the day to keep me out of school. That worked fine except on days he did not come, then I drove around listening to Kenny Rogers on repeat and ate Dairy Queen.

7. Blathered about homeschooling in a boring way to any adult that gave me a second chance. Told the boys I would probably keep them home from school half the week. Told them it would probably be “too much” and “better to be with me” Mr. Dreamy gave me the stink eye.

6. Overshared with Walgreen’s cashiers (I don’t drink or go to bars, so this is a my go-to social inappropriate outlet, the cosmetics counter at Walgreens or Fry’s checkout)

5. Ate 5 boxes of Captain crunch with Crunchberries. Dry.

4. bought about fifty new books and piled them all over the house, ostensibly for the boys who could not/would not read

3. because I let them play minecraft or surf the internet non stop while I ate captain crunch and stared at Facebook or piled books

2. Wore my pjs all day and put my hair in a pony tail.

1. And on the day before school, I went for a horseback ride and signed up for art lessons.

And I started the real work of finding out who I was and where I went after all this time.

Because it’s not about me. He’s already made it. I feel pretty amazing, now that I made room to let that idea sink in.

A few months ago, prior to the arrival of the frigid weather we are now enjoying, I had the pleasure of bringing a group of visitors around Little Round Top. It was a fairly predictable tour. We visited the requisite sites as we made our way south along the crest of the hill, namely the Gouverneur Warren statue, Hazlett’s Battery and the 44th and 140th New York Monuments as we roughly followed the progress of the battle on July 2nd. It was a good forty-five minutes before we made our way into the trees and down a tail-like ridge known as “Vincent’s Spur” which runs across the southern face of Little Round Top. Our final stop of the program was at the 20th Maine Monument, which is situated on a shelf of rocks well below the summit and nearly on its reverse slope.

Alexander Gardner, Timothy O’Sullivan and James F. Gibson were photographers. Gardner had managed the Washington, D.C. branch of Matthew Brady’s photographic gallery from 1860 to 1863, when he left to establish his own studio in the city. When news of the battle at Gettysburg reached them, Gardner and his team assembled their equipment and set out for the battlefield. They arrived on the battlefield on July 5. Of the sixty negatives the team would produce between July 5 and July 7, when they departed, twelve, or twenty per-cent, were created on the farm of George Rose. The Rose farm, which is about two miles south of Gettysburg, off the Emmitsburg Road, was the scene of very heavy fighting on July 2. Rose’s farm included the infamous “Wheatfield.” But much of the heaviest fighting occurred in Rose Woods, which bordered the Wheatfield to the east, south and west. By the…

One of the most iconic images of Gettysburg is the photograph of a deceased young Confederate soldier lying behind a stone barricade at Devil’s Den. This graphic image was first published in 1866 in Gardner’s Photographic Sketch Book of the War, a collection of wartime images taken by Alexander Gardner and his team of photographers. Entitled “The Home of A Rebel Sharpshooter, Gettysburg”, Gardner describes the melancholy scene as he discovered it with the young sharpshooter lying prone behind a stone barricade, and wondered in his narrative if thoughts of home and loved ones filled the young soldier’s mind as he perished.

“The Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter, Gettysburg” by Timothy O’Sullivan (Library of Congress)

There is more to this tale of course, but suffice it to say that we now understand the scene depicted in the photo was staged by the photographers and was not, as Gardner claimed in…

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This post made my entire to-read list and introduced me to a new genre-novels in verse. One way I struggled to connect with my kids was through the generation…they are visual and real time and diverse. They move faster and can handle more but sit less. How can you make books relevant to today’s children? These novels seem to answer that question.

Katherine Applegate is featured here two times, we love her Animorph series, it is a super well done middle grade series. Kind of a dark horse, it’s out of print but you can get copies used or as e-books. This series has hooked many a wimpy kid fan on reading. Very well done and obviously she has talent to spare. Load up your library hold list or your e-reader.